Since opening, the gallery has shown more than 300 exhibitions with an average of 30 per year, including 5 which have been curated and toured nationally by the gallery. Over 65% of exhibitions offered an intriguing insight into the social heritage and culture of Far North Queensland.
The Exhibitions Policy stipulates that exhibitions are local, national and international, with local content a high percentage of the program each year.
Exhibitions will offer the community ways of seeing its cultures, environments and histories. Exhibitions will encourage the expression of ideas, attitudes and ambitions - they are about the tradition of art and art in our time, cultural diversity, communication and enjoyment. Exhibitions should offer audiences stimulation and challenging engagement.
The curated exhibitions feature the artworks of the Far Northern region, which have toured nationally; including Artists Studio, Escape Artists: Modernists in the Tropics, the highly acclaimed Ilan Pasin (this is our Way) exhibition of Torres Strait Islander art and Home Island, Home Country - a special exhibition of works on paper by young people from communities across Cape York and the Torres Strait, and Encounters with Country: Landscapes of Ray Crooke.
Exhibitions by local artists are developed through the Community Exhibitions Program. The Gallery curates exhibitions using works from the Collection and by regional artists. Some of these exhibitions are toured nationally and highlight particular aspects of an artist's work in the region. The Gallery also presents touring exhibitions from regional, state and national museums.
All exhibitions are complimented with an active promotional, educational, advertorial and interpretive program targeting both the local and visitor community to the region.
A Time And A Place - Keith McMillan
21 March 2008 - 4 May 2008

A presentation of McMillan’s journey as a photographer commencing with his departure from the Royal Ballet in 1966 to a career as Britain’s most recognised corporate photographer. An opportunity to reminisce the stars of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Curated Exhibition

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Fantasy and Frontiers - pop culture at irony's edge. Kristen Tennyson, Sam Tupou, Priscilla Bracks, Franck Gohier.
21 March 2008 - 4 May 2008

Since the 1950’s artists have been repositioning images of film, television and advertising into the language of art. Fantasy and Frontier artists appropriate popular culture imagery to find meanings at irony’s edge. An exhibition of contemporary prints and paintings.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Curated Exhibition.

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Little Dwellings - Ben Trupperbäumer
4 April 2008 - 25 May 2008

Assemblages and constructions based on the artist's childhood creations. Trupperbäumer is renowned for his timber and bronze sculptures as well as large scale public art commissions.
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Aureole Corona - Daniel Mangano
26 April 2008 - 1 June 2008

In this series of paintings and drawings Mangano playfully explores an inversion of traditions that exists with the visual rhetoric of western religious imagery and portraiture in general.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibition Program
Exhibition Launch: Saturday 26 April.
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Converge
9 May 2008 - 15 June 2008

This exhibition showcases the finest ceramic artists both emerging and established from the Northern Rivers Region of NSW.
An Arts Northern Rivers Exhibition. Toured by Museums and Galleries of New South Wales.
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Headwear Hardware - The Milliners Group
7 June 2008 - 20 July 2008

These artists of creative and flamboyant headwear explore the potential of materials not normally associated with the mainstream fashion of wearable hats, headpieces and fascinators.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibition Program
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Ocean to Outback: Australian landscape paintings 1850-1950
20 June 2008 - 27 July 2008

This exhibition documents the most dynamic century of landscape painting from the colonial 1850’s to the immediate period following World War II. Over this century, landscape painting was the "great" subject of Australian art. This fascination and love of the Australian landscape continues to this day.
A National Gallery of Australia Travelling Exhibition
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Cairns to the Cape - Nathan David Kelly
26 July 2008 - 31 August 2008

A photographic journey documenting the communities, individuals and landscapes of this region, unique in its diversity and remoteness.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibition Program
Cuisine and Country: A gastronomic venture in Australian Art
1 August 2008 - 6 September 2008

A diverse range of historic, modernist and contemporary artworks, this exhibition is designed to take the audiences on a gastronomic odyssey through distinctive Australian artworks inspired by food related matters.
A Travelling Exhibition from Orange Regional Gallery
Earth Links - exploring ceramic diversity with our international sister cities.
8 August 2008 - 5 October 2008

An international showcase of ceramics from Cairns’ sister cities across the globe. Ceramicists from Scottsdale (Canada), Riga (Latvia), Minami and Oyama (Japan), Zhanjiang (China) and Lae (Papua New Guinea) will be participating along with potters from the Cairns region.
A Cairns City Council and Cairns Potters Club Exhibition.
Desert to the coast and all that is in between - Anne Ah Gee
6 September 2008 - 12 October 2008

Ah Gee's colourful landscapes explore and document the rich tapestry of people, festivals and places she has experienced on her journey from Broken Hill to Cairns.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibitions Program
Totems For The Soul - Lenore Howard
12 September 2008 - 26 October 2008

An exhibition of Howard’s new direction in landscape painting. Lenore Howard is a painter of quite remarkable images: powerful, beautiful, sensual, dramatic and challenging. She works in a genre in which the artist paints thought rather than known reality, creating a bridge to a different kind of existence where logic and reason are displaced. This exhibition celebrates Howard’s new direction in landscape painting.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Curated Exhibition
Myth to Modern - Bronzes from the Queensland Art Gallery Collection
10 October 2008 - 30 November 2008

A showcase of the long-standing use of bronze in a variety of subjects and themes in Western Sculpture. Myth, legend and portraiture feature in works dating from c1700 to the late twentieth century.
A Travelling Exhibition from the Queensland Art Gallery.
TAFE Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Visual Arts Students
17 October 2008 - 23 November 2008

An exhibition presenting the rich visual culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders through works by TAFE ATSI students. Includes paintings, works on paper, printmaking, 3-dimensional works and textiles.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibitions Program
Cairns Art Society 62nd Annual Open Award Art Exhibition
31 October 2008 - 7 December 2008

An annual exhibition of works by local, state and national artists hosted by the Cairns Art Society.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibitions Program
TAFE Mainstream Visual Arts Students
28 November 2008 - 11 January 2009

Graduating students from the Tropical North Queensland TAFE Visual Arts Department present an exhibition of various media including digital arts, installation, ceramics, and printmaking.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Community Exhibitions Program
"Hidden Treasures" - the Postcard Show
5 December 2008 - 21 December 2008

The annual postcard show fundraising exhibition with over 100 artworks up for auction, this year. The auction on Friday 19 December offers an ideal opportunity to purchase original works of art to keep or give away for Christmas.
A Cairns Regional Gallery Fundraising Exhibition
Please contact us for further information about our exhibition program.